tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69565022016-09-02T12:29:06.763-07:00David's random thoughtsRandom thoughts on computing and life in general.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-86686237412999509692008-11-07T12:25:00.000-08:002008-11-07T12:31:07.685-08:00Software industryThrough <a href="http://www.artima.com/weblogs/viewpost.jsp?thread=242220">Bruce Eckel</a> I have come up to <a href="http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/buildyourcareer/fa035">an interesting article</a>. Especially the chapter Estimation is all true and worth reading. All up to the final: "ES7. Pressure to achieve estimation targets is common and tends to cause programmers to skip good software process. This constitutes an absurd result done for an absurd reason".David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2008/11/through-bruce-eckel-i-have-come-up-to.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-85655978925236448592008-07-22T00:55:00.000-07:002008-07-22T01:00:21.268-07:00OCZ NIA Brain-Computer Interface"It is a combination of a simple electro-encephalogram, electro-myogram and electro-oculogram. In plain English that means it can detect biopotentials generated by activity patterns in the brain, muscles and eye, respectively. More specifically, the NIA is able to detect upper facial muscle movement and eye movement as well as Alpha and Beta brain rhythmic activity."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-OCZMSNIA-NIA-Impulse-Actuator/dp/B00168VU4U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1216713554&sr=1-1">For just 150$!</a>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2008/07/ocz-nia-brain-computer-interface.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-17881032079656033162008-06-27T07:11:00.000-07:002008-06-27T07:13:57.798-07:00Code SwarmInteresting idea. They use <a href="http://processing.org/">Processing</a> to get the <a href="http://vis.cs.ucdavis.edu/~ogawa/codeswarm/">nice results</a>.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2008/06/code-swarm.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-28646078947733539362008-05-16T00:52:00.000-07:002008-05-16T00:52:36.527-07:00Introducing the Google Maps API for Flash<a href="http://googlemapsapi.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-google-maps-api-for-flash.html">Official Google Maps API Blog: Introducing the Google Maps API for Flash</a>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-google-maps-api-for-flash.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-73926077631767610382008-05-05T07:27:00.001-07:002008-05-05T07:27:45.890-07:00Interactive Graph of American Spending (GRAPH)Each month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics gathers 84,000 prices in about 200 categories to form the Consumer Price Index, one measure of inflation. It’s among the statistics that the Federal Reserve considered when it cut interest rates on Wednesday. The categories are weighted according to an estimate of what the average American spends, as shown.<br/><br/><a href='http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/03/business/20080403_SPENDING_GRAPHIC.html'>read more</a> | <a href='http://digg.com/business_finance/Interactive_Graph_of_American_Spending_GRAPH'>digg story</a>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2008/05/interactive-graph-of-american-spending.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-39303992516433276432007-11-05T04:18:00.000-08:002007-11-05T04:21:10.467-08:00"Fucking around is in fact detrimental to the work process"<div class="onion_embed headline"><a class="img" target="theonion" href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/study_finds_working_at_work?utm_source=Distributed&utm_medium=Embedded%2BHTML&utm_campaign=Widgets"><img src="http://www.theonion.com/content/files/images/Study-Finds-fp.frontpage_thumbnail_small.jpg" alt="Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity" /></a><h2><a target="theonion" href="http://www.theonion.com/content?utm_source=Distributed&utm_medium=Embedded%2BHTML&utm_campaign=Widgets"><img src="http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/onion/assets/logos/onion_super_tiny.png" width="92" height="12" alt="The Onion" /></a></h2><h3 style="font-size:default!important;line-height:default!important;"><a target="theonion" href="http://www.theonion.com/content/news/study_finds_working_at_work?utm_source=Distributed&utm_medium=Embedded%2BHTML&utm_campaign=Widgets" >Study Finds Working At Work Improves Productivity</a></h3><p class="embed_teaser">WASHINGTON, DC&#8212;The groundbreaking research found that by simply sitting down and doing work, employees can dramatically increase their output of goods and services.</p></div><style type="text/css">.onion_embed {background: rgb(256, 256, 256) !important;border: 4px solid rgb(65, 160, 65);border-width: 4px 0 1px 0;margin: 10px 30px !important;padding: 5px;overflow: hidden !important;zoom: 1;}.onion_embed img {border: 0 !important;}.onion_embed a {display: inline;}.onion_embed a.img {float: left !important;margin: 0 5px 0 0 !important;width: 66px;display: block;overflow: hidden !important;}.onion_embed a.img img {border: 1px solid #222 !important;;width: 64px;;padding: 0 !important;;}.onion_embed h2 {line-height: 2px;;clear: none;;margin: 0 !important;padding: 0 !important;}.onion_embed h3 {line-height: 16px;font: bold 16px arial, sans-serif !important;margin: 3px 0 0 0 !important;padding: 0 !important;}.onion_embed h3 a {line-height: 16px !important;;color: rgb(0, 51, 102) !important;font: bold 16px arial, sans-serif !important;text-decoration: none !important;display: inline !important;;float: none !important;;text-transform: capitalize !important;}.onion_embed h3 a:hover {text-decoration: underline !important;color: rgb(204, 51, 51) !important;}.onion_embed p {color: #000 !important;;font: normal 11px/ 11px arial, sans-serif !important;;margin: 2px 0 0 0 !important;;padding: 0 !important;}.onion_embed a {display: inline !important;;float: none !important;}</style><img src="http://statistics.theonion.com/b/ss/theonionprod/1/H.6--NS/1234567?pe=lnk_d&pev2=Study%20Finds%20Working%20At%20Work%20Improves%20Productivity&pev1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theonion.com%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fstudy_finds_working_at_work%3Futm_source%3DDistributed%26utm_medium%3DEmbedded%252BHTML%26utm_campaign%3DWidgets" height="1" width="1" style="display:none;" />David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/11/fucking-around-is-in-fact-detrimental.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-5249548978063611732007-10-04T11:57:00.000-07:002007-10-04T12:04:17.139-07:00Why are we paid so well?Through <a href="http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2007/10/03/Tech-Tab-Sweep">ongoing</a> I have found that <a href="http://www.gamearchitect.net/Articles/SoftwareIsHard.html">Software is hard</a>. I really like the following quote:<br />"Talking about a software development schedule more than a year out is like talking about where we go after we die."David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/10/why-are-we-paid-so-well.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-73313867893416846032007-06-19T12:01:00.000-07:002007-06-19T12:05:55.469-07:00del.icio.us or simpy.com<h2 style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size:78%;">Seems like del.icio.us has won over simpy.com (looked unstable from here) as you can see here <a href="http://del.icio.us/dstrupl">del.icio.us/dstrupl</a> or by looking at the right side of this blog page ;-)</span><a href="http://del.icio.us/dstrupl"><br /></a></h2>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/06/delicious-or-simpycom.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-11049951023412071562007-05-09T12:28:00.000-07:002007-05-09T12:34:40.265-07:00JavaFX ScriptFinally some open source alternative to Flash? Let's wait how good the implementation will be, the language and API looks good from a <a href="https://openjfx.dev.java.net/JavaFX_Programming_Language.html">first glance</a>. The font rendering still lags a bit behind my expectations in the published demos.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/05/javafx-script.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-11082436496584019212007-03-06T01:40:00.000-08:002007-03-06T01:41:35.188-08:00Image InpaintingCheck the Image Inpainting section of the linked article. Looks pretty cool - hope to get it in Gimp soon.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/03/image-inpainting.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-23390704435602924042007-03-01T15:08:00.001-08:002007-03-01T15:08:21.109-08:00Programmer Personality TestI have tried. Interesting. Might deserve more questions to get more valuable output.<br></br><br></br><a href='http://www.doolwind.com/index.php?page=11'>read more</a> | <a href='http://digg.com/programming/Programmer_Personality_Test'>digg story</a>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/03/programmer-personality-test.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-10280223680105769492007-02-28T03:13:00.000-08:002007-02-28T03:15:04.000-08:00Walking robots?It took <span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><a href="http://tlb.org/">Trevor Blackwell</a> 6 years to build the robot. I wonder how realistic the <a href="http://www.robocup.org/overview/22.html">2050 goal is</a>.<br /></span>David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/02/walking-robots.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-20548593784516448082007-02-08T13:36:00.000-08:002007-02-05T06:17:41.480-08:00last.fmMy friends recommended this site. I am giving it a try. IMHO a good idea to offer you similar artists to those that you like. Will report back how good it is.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/02/lastfm.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-26685959698861799952007-02-05T06:15:00.000-08:002007-02-05T06:17:41.573-08:00They have taken my toothpaste!The idiots on the airport have taken my toothpaste from my hand luggage because it was 125ml - it was not full so it contained less than the allowed 100ml. Whoever made the rules was complete idiot. I apologize for the language but I could not help myself.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com2http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/02/they-have-taken-my-toothpaste.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-74370198991511113362007-01-24T01:50:00.000-08:002007-01-24T01:51:33.194-08:00I am backHello everybody - I will try to post more often, I promise. This is rather a testing entry. Let's see what comes next.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-am-back.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1134755118500332042005-12-16T09:41:00.000-08:002005-12-16T09:56:46.926-08:00Optical IllusionsReally nice "<a href="http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/">Optical Illusions</a>". Would you believe <a href="http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/col_lilacChaser/index.html">this</a>? Probably the <a href="http://www.patmedia.net/marklevinson/cool/cool_illusion.html">coolest one</a> (another link to the previously mentioned effect) is also <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilac_chaser">mentioned on Wikipedia</a>.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com1http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2005/12/optical-illusions.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1110225669662336022005-03-07T11:43:00.000-08:002005-03-07T12:01:09.666-08:00Winter vacationWe spent last week skiing in a small resort of <a href="http://www.finkenberg.at/index_e.html"> Finkenberg </a>, in <a href="http://www.zillertal.at/en/e_inhalt.php">the Zillertal region</a>. Stayed in little hotel <a href="http://www.persal.at/">Persal</a> right next to the <a href="http://www.gletscherwelt.at/finkenberg.htm">slopes</a>. We were taking<br /><a href="http://www.solutions.cz/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=winter2005&page=3"> family pictures </a>, especially <br /><a href="http://www.solutions.cz/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=winter2005&id=P3010035"> this one</a> shows how parenting and skiing goes together.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2005/03/winter-vacation.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1109253771572767842005-02-24T06:00:00.000-08:002005-02-24T06:02:51.573-08:00While reading this <a href="http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/02/24/0111259&from=rss"> Slashdot article</a> <br />I have found this <a href="http://www.jwz.org/dadadodo/"> cool link </a>.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2005/02/while-reading-this-slashdot-article-i.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1109146440763722152005-02-23T00:10:00.000-08:002005-02-23T00:32:25.420-08:00RSS?I am new to RSS feeds. Tried <a href="http://www.feedburner.com/">www.feedburner.com</a>.<br /><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/dstrupl" title="Subscribe to my feed">Here is the result: <img src="http://www.feedburner.com/fb/images/pub/fbapix.gif" style="border: 0pt none ;" /></a> Or if your reader supports <a href="http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=697">ATOM</a> you can directly subscribe <a href="http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/atom.xml">here</a>.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2005/02/rss.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1107213346318974502005-01-31T15:11:00.000-08:002005-01-31T15:15:46.320-08:00Office politicsI have a strange feeling that I have already read almost identical article somewhere. Nonetheless it is pretty good: <a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2005/1/28/32622/4244">"Politics-Oriented Software Development (Technology) By TheophileEscargot "</a>.David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2005/01/office-politics.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1103104505601243372004-12-15T01:52:00.000-08:002004-12-15T01:55:05.600-08:00Little gameAfter searching for a Same Game clone for my new Palm I did not find one. So I wrote one:
<br /><a href="http://www.solutions.cz/samegame/"> Same Game for MIDP </a>. If you have similar device you can also try it.
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<br />David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2004/12/little-game.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1100886530676127122004-11-19T09:26:00.000-08:002004-11-19T13:11:28.556-08:00Patent pendingThe situation with software patents is getting really absurd. Take for example the recent<a href="http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20041003041632172"> Sun versus Kodak. </a>
<br /><a href="http://www.sun.com/">Sun</a> has paid vast <a href="http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-10/sunflash.20041007.2.html">sum of money</a> to resolve the dispute. Why would someone pay 92M USD when there is no merit in the matter? The answer is simple: because it is cheaper to settle than to prove the truth in courts. That is saying something about the whole legal system and the patent system in particular.
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<br />I have really crazy idea: what about granting only patents that are relevant? How could you possibly do that? Simply by requiring some sort of review process before the patent application is accepted to become a patent. It would be enough if the patent office asks some expert group to vote for or against the patent being granted. The vote would be public so the asked experts would not dare to ruin their profesional reputation by stating nonsense during the vote. They can be even paid by the applicant for doing the job - isn't patent application expensive already?
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<br />The question remains who would appoint the expert group: I don't have answer but beleive there would be a way - e.g. the patent office could appoint them.
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<br />But I am not that naive - I know this will never happen. There are too many people making good money by using the current system. Why would they want to change it?
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<br />David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2004/11/patent-pending.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6956502.post-1084312087632617172004-05-11T14:47:00.000-07:002004-08-19T15:41:04.623-07:00TestThis is my <strong>FIRST</strong> blog. Well I am not very active.
<br />David Struplhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08506363689470000136noreply@blogger.com0http://dstrupl.blogspot.com/2004/05/test.html